How To Create a Facebook Fanpage For Your Real Estate Business

You'll have a professional business Page in no time!

Creating a Facebook Fanpage for your real estate business can seem daunting, however the process itself is relatively simple.

Adding your real estate business to Facebook is a great way to generate more sales leads, increase your online authority and create dialogue between you and potential, as well as existing, customers.

Below we walk you through the necessary steps to get your Fanpage up and running. The process itself should take an hour or less depending on how much of the assets and information you already have.

1. Login into Facebook and create a page

Log into Facebook with your personal account, or the account you wish to use to control the page with (known as admin).

Once logged in you can access the ‘create a page’ URL via the left-hand side Pages menu which is normally located beneath favourites. Or you can simply click on this link https://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php.

For real estate agents the ideal category is ‘Local Business or place’ as this will allow you to compete best in searches by locating your business in a specific area.

2. Choose a business category and enter basic details

Choose the correct category for your business from the drop down menu. For real estate agents this would normally be ‘Real Estate’.

Fill in the basic detail fields – business name, address, phone number – before pressing the ‘Get Started!’ button. These details are the same you would normally have on a business card or website.

3. Set up your About details

Next you must set up the basic ‘About’ details of your page.

First is the category of your page. You already chose ‘Real Estate’ (or the relevant category for you) and now you can refine this. You can put Real Estate Agent or Broker if you like, and Facebook will auto-suggest categories as you type.

You must then enter a description of the business. Keep this brief and focused. If you already have a standard description you use elsewhere – such as a website – this is a good place to re-use it. You will be able to enter a longer description of the business at a later stage.

You also need to enter a website address for the business if you have one, or alternatively you can include a social media page link such as Twitter or LinkedIn.

The last two questions on the page relate to the legitimacy of your business. Again this will help people find you on Facebook more easily as well as validate your business with Facebook.

When you’re done press the ‘Save Info’ button which will move you to the next step.

4. Set up a profile picture

Next you can set up a profile picture. This can be uploaded from your computer or imported from another website. You can also opt to skip this step for now and do it later.

As with any other professional use of social media you should use a photo that represents you in a positive light or alternatively you can use your business logo as well.

Profile pictures should be square and at least 180×180 pixels in dimension.

Once you press ‘Save Photo’ you will be taken to the third step, Favourites. This will add a short link to your new page into your Facebook favourites menu for easy access. It’s entirely optional and you can skip it if you don’t use the menu to navigate Facebook. Your page will automatically appear in your Pages menu once created and can be accessed in a variety of ways, including by simply typing its name in the Facebook search box.

5. Select your audience

This is optional, but highly recommended. Since there are so many business pages on Facebook, this is going to help people narrow down their searches to find you better. In the ‘Locations’ field, simply type in your target market. You can choose to fill out the rest of the details if you wish, and then click ‘Save’.

6. Add a cover photo

Facebook will now take you to your newly setup page.

Alongside the profile picture – that you may have set up previously – the cover photo is an integral part of branding your Facebook page. It’s the most prominent visual element of your page and the first thing any visitors to the page will see.

To set up the cover photo scroll over the camera icon in the top left corner and click ‘Add a Cover’.

In order to get the best looking cover photo you will want to use an image in landscape format with a size of 1702 x 630 pixels. This will be resized by Facebook automatically and you will end up with the optimal size which is 851 x 315.

You will probably need to experiment with different images/graphics in order to get the most out of your cover photo. Things to bear in mind are:

Your profile picture will bleed into the cover photo, on the bottom left side of it, so do not place any crucial information or visuals in there

You want to make an impact but not distract from the rest of the page either

Have a maximum of 20% text (excluding logo) in the image

Keep a master version of your cover photo for when you need to update it, such as when you want to promote special deals, events etc…

When you’re satisfied with your cover photo, click ‘Save Changes’.

7. Update page info

Next you want to update the page info to ensure all the necessary basic and key information is covered. To do this click the ‘About’ button, right beneath your cover photo.

The details you entered in step 3 will already be filled in. Additional page information includes business hours, a longer description of your page (which will appear in the separate About section of your page), price range and email as well as website and Facebook URL if those haven’t yet been set.

Fill these in until you’re comfortable all key information is covered.

8. Add content to your page

At this point the basic set up of your page is done. What remains to do is to populate it with some content before sharing it. Sharing an ‘empty’ page is counterproductive as people will not have anything to engage with.

You should take some time to add things like photo albums, such as a selection of property photos, milestones and basic content such as status updates and offers.

You don’t need a lot of content but enough to make the page look like it’s already been active for a while.

If you think you may struggle at this point to keep adding content to your page regularly we can help. Sign up for your free CityBlast 14 day trial to discover how our social media management services can help your real estate business. We know what works and can make sure that your Facebook page is generating leads, building authority and engaging with prospective and existing clients.

9. Familiarise yourself with your new page’s layout and options

This is an important step, especially if you’ve never managed a page on Facebook. Take some time to get familiar with your page and its options.

Look at the different types of content you can share and upload. Check the about page to make sure it displays all the information you need, and take some time to explore the options in “…” beside ‘Message’ and the bar at the top of the page. Use the Facebook help menu to read up on any element of your page you’re unsure about.

10. Invite people to like your page

When you feel you’re ready, it’s time to share your page with the world.

You can invite friends to like the page, by clicking “…” beside ‘Message’ and typing in each friend’s name. Facebook also shows you a suggested list of friends to invite, to make things easier.

You can also send the page to existing clients via email or other social media networks. Lastly you should also add the page to your existing web presence, such as a website.

You will probably need to give it a few days for people to start finding your page organically. Use this time to add content to it and continue to familiarize yourself with its options so that when the time comes you’ll know exactly what to do.

That’s it! That’s all there is to creating your own Facebook Fanpage for your real estate business. If you still need more help, feel free to drop us a line at info@cityblast.com and one of our Social Experts would be more than happy to answer any other questions you might have!